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JOURNAL OF
ALGEBRAIC
COMBINATORICS

  Editors-in-chief: C. A. Athanasiadis, T. Lam, A. Munemasa, H. Van Maldeghem
ISSN 0925-9899 (print) • ISSN 1572-9192 (electronic)
 

Equivalence classes of functions between finite groups

K. J. Horadam
RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia

DOI: 10.1007/s10801-011-0310-8

Abstract

Two types of equivalence relation are used to classify functions between finite groups into classes which preserve combinatorial and algebraic properties important for a wide range of applications. However, it is very difficult to tell when functions equivalent under the coarser (“graph”) equivalence are inequivalent under the finer (“bundle”) equivalence. Here we relate graphs to transversals and splitting relative difference sets (RDSs) and introduce an intermediate relation, canonical equivalence, to aid in distinguishing the classes. We identify very precisely the conditions under which a graph equivalence determines a bundle equivalence, using transversals and extensions. We derive a new and easily computed algebraic measure of nonlinearity for a function f, calculated from the image of its coboundary
tial f
. This measure is preserved by bundle equivalence but not by the coarser equivalences. It takes its minimum value if f is a homomorphism, and takes its maximum value if the graph of f contains a splitting RDS.

Pages: 477–496

Keywords: equivalent functions; graph of function; finite field polynomial; linear equivalence; relative difference set; nonlinear function; APN function

Full Text: PDF

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